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Sunday, January 22, 2017

It is already well established that Cedar Fair has worked on a new zoning plan for California's Great America, one that would set the stage for the park to grow significantly in the next 20 years. As part of the approval process the park created a presentation about the future of the property, shared via the planning commission for the meeting where it approved the plan.

The master plan document gives a look at just why the park wants to expand, how it is able to justify the new zoning, and how it intends to grow over time. Above is a look at the park as it currently is, which makes a nice starting point for review.

This map is an imagined 20 year plan of growth for the park. There are some significant changes - but keep in mind that this is a concept, not a hard blueprint for the future.

First, a portion of the theme park around the current entrance is set to become an entertainment district, not a gated part of the park (similar to Knott's Berry Farm). The water park will take over some of the existing theme park space, and through use of existing open areas and other changes, there are plenty of new rides and attractions listed. If you click the larger image you can see some of them lined out - keep in mind though that this is a 20 year concept - a lot of the items listed could easily be swapped out over time for the latest or greatest of that period.

If you look at the acreage chat on the before and after maps, you'll see how the park's land will be redivided:

So, even though the theme park is envisioned to become more than 20 acres smaller in size, that doesn't mean there won't be big new rides to draw in guests. Several pages give ideas of what could be coming, starting with a steel hyper coaster that could be up to 250 feet tall. The document references Diamondback at Kings Island as a similar ride, and even without that happening it seems B&M is a logical choice to supply the ride. Another coaster listed here is an Intamin launched coaster, like Wicked Twister at Cedar Point.

This page references a new wood coaster for the park, specifically stating that and "out-and-back version" would work at the park. Seems a bit odd considering the park just added Gold Striker, but in the span of 20 years it doesn't seem so strange.

Other large attractions that are mentioned are a 250 foot StarFlyer type swing ride, a new water flume ride, and a slingshot tower. Mentioned elsewhere in the planning documents, but not on this slide, is a large pendulum ride as well.

Family attractions will also be added, with some potential rides coming online such as a mid-sized steel coaster (referenced is the inverted family ride at Kings Island), a "mini wood coaster" that would be 35-40 feet tall and 1,400 feet long, and of course new "flat rides" for kids.

Also listed as ideas are a large climb and play structure, which I think would be a first for the Cedar Fair parks, and also a Dinosaurs Alive type exhibit, certainly not the first for the Cedar Fair parks.

California's Great America's water park would also see plenty of new changes. Several water slide towers, like those that have gone into a half dozen Cedar Fair parks in the past few years, is listed as an example addition up front.

The water area would expand to take over some of the existing theme park, and have a new dedicated entrance built for it - so guests could access it from outside the park. A water coaster is listed as a possible addition, which is fantastic because Cedar Fair outdoor water parks lack these.

Rounding out other potential water park additions are the ever-popular mat racing tower, slides with aqua drops, and a family raft ride which is currently missing from the park's line up.

The document also goes through the details of the special event area that is planned, along with other seasonal special events that could be used to make the park a year-round operation. It sounds like the future of the park is very bright, and I personally cannot wait to see what is announced for 2018 to kick things off. In more current news, the park has removed their Top Spin ride, and though no official announcement was made, photos of the ride being taken out have appeared on social media. Change is certainly in the air!

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